Women to Watch - Francine Parker

Detroit A few months after she retired in March 2008 as CEO of Health Alliance Plan of Michigan, Francine Parker realized she needed a new challenge. So when the United Auto Workers approached Parker later that fall to be executive director of the new UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, a health plan for retired autoworkers, she jumped at the chance. “We needed to create a health care organization from scratch that could take on the health benefit functions currently being performed by the auto companies,” said Parker, 55, who spent 29 years with HAP after working with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. It wasn't simple. Each automaker administered benefits in a different way and had different systems, processes and contracts, she said. Another challenge was crafting a benefit package and provider network that would accommodate hundreds of thousands of retirees who live in different states. “It is the largest nongovernmental health care organization in the country,” she said. “It is more than double the size of HAP.” The benefit trust is the voluntary employee beneficiary association, or VEBA, created as part of the 2007 collective bargaining agreement among the UAW, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. Launched in January, the UAW's VEBA administers health care benefits to auto retirees through separate trust funds for each automotive company. During the first six months, the VEBA has successfully processed 7 million pharmacy claims. “There was some concern by retirees … ‘will my card come in the mail and will my benefits be paid?' ” Parker said. “It was very satisfying to me that we were able to pull this off in such a short time and give them security and comfort.” Biggest lesson learned in the past year: “How to be flexible. You have detours along the way to your final destination, but with proper planning and a great team you can overcome any obstacle.” If you could take a class in anything, what would it be? Pottery.